8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



These young actinia very rapidly increased in size, and soon had 

 doubled the numher of their feelers. Supposing that this argued an 

 increase of feeling on their part, we found ourselves feeling an increase 

 of interest in their ways and welfare. Just as this mutual understand- 

 ing had been established, an incident occurred which filled us with 

 anxiety. The mother-actinia began gliding back toward our little 

 ones. That firmly-adhering base, sticking fast as the boy's sucker 

 with which he lifts a brick, came slowly but surely, advancing toward 

 her children. On, and on, now she is right upon them ! Good-by, my 

 twin babies, it is all-day with you now ! That sucker of a mother has 

 taken you in beyond all hope of redemption. How we did wish that 

 that cruel parent would move on and let us see our pets again, even 

 if dead ! But no, now she would not move at all ; and for nearly a 

 day she retained that position. At length we detected movement 

 the gliding had begun. But, oh, how provokingly slow it was ! Ah ! 

 we begin to see them at the peripheral edge of that mother's base. 

 How flat the poor things look ! No wonder, such a squeezing maternal 

 embrace as that was. They are fairly out now dead ! dead ! See, their 

 little tentacles are pi'Otruding. It looks as if they were in a hurry to 

 shake out their crumpled frills. Well, well, they have come out of 

 this singular occultation as brilliantly as ever emerged a binary star. 



The question whether these beautiful creatui'es have a nervous sys- 

 tem seems not settled. That they manifest phenomena indicating a 

 will, cannot be doubted. On one occasion my pets were all sulky, 

 like " Jack in the doldrums." Every one was closed, which means it 

 had shriveled up into a mere gelatinous lump. Each one in this con- 

 dition had a disgusting look, resembling nothing so truthfully as a 



Fig. 6. Anthea Cereus {Opelet). 



ripened boil when the fotid core is ready for extraction. And we 

 have often seen even this repulsiveness intensified, by evolving in 

 threads a white, stringy slime, that peculiar mucous lining of which, in 

 parts at least, the creature often takes occasion to divest itself when 

 in repose. {See cut of Fringed Actinia closed.) 



As above, when in repose, these sea-anemones look like clots of 

 gelatine, and, as many of the actinia are very small, we have known 



